https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3821173.html

This is a really intense and complex (and short) novel, which it would be slightly unfair to call urban fantasy even though it's about a troll taking up residence in a contemporary Helsinki apartment block. Mikael, who finds and cares for the troll, is a gay photographer who lives upstairs from a Filipina mail-order bride. The troll's pheromones cause massive sexual confusion for everyone, sparsely recounted in that very Finnish way. The narrative is bolstered by a history of humanity's coexistence with trolls over the centuries and millennia. Helsinki is a sober nineteenth century city which has undergone some occasionally brutal twentieth century development; but it's not difficult to feel older forces tugging at you when you are there, and Johanna Sinisalo has captured that, as well as exploring some important human issues. ( )

young Finnish man takes in lost troll cub and falls in love as trolls infiltrate human society

On his way home one night, Angel rescues a small troll from being beaten up by a group of drunk teenagers and the encounter will change his whole life. This is a weird one. I liked so much of it - the characters and the ties to mythology are amazing, but there are some parts that just make me really nauseated, so I'm coming away with a slightly sour taste in my mouth. ( )

This little troll was on the new book shelf, subtitled "a love story". It took a little while to figure out who the characters were, the story flips between 3 or 4 points of view. Angel/Mikael rescues a troll and starts bringing up the mysterious wild beast in his apartment. This situation is disturbingly compared to the captive mail-order bride that lives downstairs. The characters are moody and murky and often overcome with desire or fear. The scenes are often interrupted with excerpts from histories and literature about trolls. Dangerous and alluring. (November 18, 2004) ( )

If you think there's nothing new under the sun when it comes to story-telling, give this book a try - it won't be what you expect, whatever you're expecting. (Especially if you're expecting Shrek.) A fast and entertaining read that isn't 'experimental fiction', but still does creative stuff with perspective and the idea of trolls. One little thing about the translation bothered me at first - the translator occasionally uses slang words that are really outdated - both for the date of the translation (2003) and the time period of the novel - early 2000's. Words like "pad" for apartment, or awkward descriptions of the act of internet searching, when the verb 'to google' was already in common use. But it is very infrequent, and I liked the spirit of the book so much that it started to seem cute after a while. But I still doubt it was intentional. ( )